


A Bit of a Breather

by ShadowCrusade



Series: All Hallows Karma [17]
Category: RWBY
Genre: M/M, Yes we do, also getting deeper with mentions of summer and raven, do we have the beginnings of bratty clover in this oneshot, good times for a cry, no beta i die on this hill waiting for the next episode of rwby, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27753271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowCrusade/pseuds/ShadowCrusade
Summary: Day 17: Lazy Day in the Fall
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: All Hallows Karma [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950640
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	A Bit of a Breather

**Author's Note:**

> I hope yall had a nice holiday break (for those of you that had it, if not I hope you at least had a decent week!). I'm a little over halfway from finishing this series so hopefully I can get this finished at like a decent pace lol.

Taiyang was many things. A father, a supportive friend, and a dependable person to list a few. He was also extremely lenient and lax when it came to his daughters antics. One had to be with Yang’s insistence to do dangerous stunts with Ruby enabling her. Things only got more chaotic if Qrow decided to make the effort to involve himself in their schemes. 

Which brings him to his current point of despair.

“What do you mean Qrow didn’t come home last night?” He asked for what seemed like the third or fourth time. The repetitive question only seemed to serve to instill it into his brain that his former brother-in-law and current best friend was not in the house. 

His youngest daughter looked sheepishly up at him. “Well, I went into his room this morning to ask if he wanted breakfast and he wasn’t there. So, I thought maybe he had an early morning for work? But he said he had most of his articles done earlier this week.” Ruby rambled as she went through her thought process. 

“Maybe he’s out taking photos?” Yang suggested. “He hates getting up early in the morning, but you know how much he loves doing sunrise timelapses.” 

“That’s a fair point.” Tai agreed. Although, he doubted that’s where the man was at all. Normally, if Qrow had left the house early to do some work, he at least left a note. The only times he didn’t leave a note were when he would-

_We are not going down that train of thought._ Tai thought to himself. _He promised he was going to stop._ _Just call him and see where he’s at. Besides, it’s not like his phone is dead like all the other times he did get drunk._

“Uh, dad? Qrow’s phone is going straight to voicemail.” Yang’s voice rang through his ears. 

_ Qrow Branwen. You are a deadman walking. _

* * *

Qrow noticed three things when he first started to wake up.

Overwhelming heat was the first thing he felt when his body slowly started to wake up. He didn’t want to open his eyes just yet, since that would mean that he would have to acknowledge being awake. Which was the last thing he wanted. 

The heat was a little uncomfortable, he wondered how he managed not to wake up at all last night with the heat. Even though he enjoys burying himself underneath a pile of blnkaets, there’s only so much heat his body can take before he’s woken up and uncomfortably sweaty. And it usually ends up with him being pouty and rolling over on his bed until he finds a cooler spot. Sometimes that’s immediate, other times it take him an hour. 

It’s a truly awful time. 

The second thing that occurred to him was the weight that was present on his body. It wasn’t crushing him, but with his body slowly coming back online, it wasn’t very comfortable. He didn’t remember ever owning a weighted blanket that heavy. Although, with Ruby constantly buying new ones for him since she insisted he get every pattern that she finds, it’s possible that he grabbed one before falling asleep. It was almost endearing, Ruby’s concern over his sleep schedule, even if the main purpose of the blankets was to have an ultimate pillow fight during Christmas. 

The third thing he had noticed was the smell of breakfast being made. He could almost feel his stomach growl at the idea of food. No doubt Taiyang had whipped up his signature pancakes along with some eggs or whatever else he decided to cook. Qrow could have lept out of bed if it wasn’t for the weighted blanket that was ontop of him. 

Qrow resigned and finally decided to open his eyes and found that his room wasn’t nearly as dark as it should be. In fact, the colors of the room were completely wrong. Where there should have been colors of varying shades of brown there was white instead. The ceiling was completely flat, not at all like the slanted angles he was used to waking up to. 

And the sunlight was coming from the wrong side of the room. 

“Where the fuck?” He mumbled as he tried to sit up. The weight ontop his chest once again stopped him. He glanced down and was met with light brown hair that was smushed against his chest. Qrow stopped moving as he remembered the night before. The invite to Vine’s apartment, the dinner, the horror movies, and Hocus Pocus. 

He absolutely did not remember when he and Clover started to cuddle. 

“Marrow did it.” Clover mumbled in his sleep. Qrow had to hold in a laugh in order to stop himself from shaking. He didn’t expect Clover to be the type to talk in his sleep, but the man proves him wrong once again. He thought about waking the other man up, but quickly decided against it. As curious as he was about the smell of food, he wanted to enjoy this just a little bit longer. He slowly began to comb his fingers through Clover’s thick brown hair. He didn’t have much hair to start with, but with what he did have was incredibly thick. He noticed the lazy waves, almost curls on the longer part of his hair and he began to wonder if it was naturally like that. 

Just as his mind began to wander into the thought of Clover having naturally curly hair, the man in question began to stir. At first, it was just a readjustment of his head and then he almost seemed to realised that he was not laying on a pillow. Qrow heard the sharp inhale from the other man as bleary eyes peered opened. Clover tried to rub the sleep from his eyes before he wrinkled his nose. The motion reminded Qrow so much of a kitten that it nearly killed him to not have a picture. His heart shook as Clover did it a second time before he let out a small yawn. 

“Morning Lucky Charm.” Qrow muttered. Immediately, Clover shot his head up to focus on the new sound. He still wasn’t fully awake since his eyes were only half open. The green in his eyes had almost shifted into a different color and it threw Qrow off completely. The normal teal-green eyes that he was mesmerized by everytime he gazed into them were now more of a forest green. He could see specks of the teal in the irises, they became more prominent the more alert Clover became. 

Clover smiled, a lazy half asleep smile. “Morning.” His gravelly voice laced with sleep nearly had Qrow by the throat. 

_ Who gave him the right to be this attractive? _

“You sleep well?” He asked. 

“I had a very comfortable pillow.”

“Well I’m glad my chest and your drool could accompany my hoodie for the night.” Qrow said as Clover immediately sat up. He began to rub the side of his face. After a few moments, he glared at Qrow.

“You liar. I didn’t drool.”

Qrow snorted. “Made you look.” He sat up as Clover swatted at the other man playfully. Embarrassed, but not insulted at the drool comment. 

“You’re terrible.”

“I prefer mischievous, but I’ll take that.” Qrow informed him as he stretched his arms out. He tried to do the same for his legs, but they were still caught beneath Clover’s body. “Can I have my legs back, or are you gonna keep them.”

“They’re mine now.” Clover declared. “You can’t have them back.”

“What if I need to pee?” 

“I heard that adult diapers are a thing.” Clover said thoughtfully as Qrow laughed. “So you could resort back to being a toddler.”

“Oh my gods, no.” Qrow shook with laughter. “I don’t remember much from that point in my life, but I think I’ll stick to making the effort to use a toilet.”

“Well not without your legs you can’t.” Clover made it a point to add more weight to where he was seated. Which, at the moment, was ontop of Qrow’s thighs. 

“You’re a brat, you know that?” Qrow told him as he leaned forward, closer to Clover. The broad shouldered man mirrored his actions. Their noses gently brushed up against each other, lips almost met before Clover pulled back right as Qrow leaned in. 

“Yeah, I know I am. What are you gonna do about it?” Teal-green eyes returned with that same spark of life and mischief that Qrow had gotten used to seeing. The red eyed man could only chuckle lowly as he matched his gaze with his teasing lover. 

“You get a pass this time.” Qrow told him before he closed the gap between the two. Clover was more than receptive to Qrow’s kiss. The dark haired man could feel fingers gliding through his thin hair. Another hand snaked its way up his chest and came to a rest at the side of Qrow’s face. He thumbed Qrow’s cheekbone gently as he deepened the kiss. Before the kiss could get anymore heated, Qrow pulled away, much to the disappointment of the other man. Clover leaned back in quick, hoping to steal another kiss. 

Unfortunately, Qrow anticipated him. 

“Lucky Charm, I told you that you got a free pass this time.” Qrow muttered. A pale thumb gently pressed itself against Clover’s bottom lip, which was still wet from the kiss. Red eyes bore into green as the paler of the two smirked. Qrow’s thumb glided slowly across the bottom lip, almost as if memorizing the patterns of his lip lines. “The next time, I’ll make you work for it.” His voice husky as he said it. 

As if that wasn’t supposed to light up every nerve in Clover’s body.

“Why work for it when I can steal quality kisses right here?” Clover shot back. 

Qrow leaned close to Clover’s ear. The small breaths tickled his ear. His own breath hitched as Qrow began to speak. “Behave. And you might get a bigger prize at a better time.” 

The blood in his brain completely drained. 

“Hey, Qrow! How do you want your pancakes?” Elm came around the corner from the kitchen.

Clover was seriously about to faint from his blood doing flips from one half of his body to the other. 

“You got any chocolate chips?” Qrow asked nonchalantly. As if Clover wasn’t still seated on his lap currently about to die from embarrassment. 

“Yep!” Elm’s cheerily smiled. “Breakfast should be ready in the next few minutes, if you want to freshen up a bit.”

“Thanks, Elm.” Qrow thanked her as the woman walked away back into the kitchen. “I was wondering if that was pancakes I smelled.” He looked back at the man who simply gawked at him. “What?” 

“You didn’t care that Elm may have seen that?”

Qrow batted his eyelashes innocently. “Seen what?”

“You know what.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea.” Qrow shrugged as he felt a grin form on his face. “Care to enlighten me?”

_ Behave. _ Clover could see the words written in Qrow’s red eyes. “I think I’m gonna grab a glass of water.”

“Good choice.” Qrow replied as the other man scurried off into the kitchen. Qrow chuckled to himself as he left the couch. He stretched out his back as it cracked a little.  _ Note to self, add Yoga to the list of things to do today. _ He walked over into the bathroom in hopes of freshening up a little. Qrow splashed some of the cold water onto his face before he shut it off. Now that he was awake, he could definitely get his brain under control. 

He reached for the phone in his back pocket to check the time before he realised that it was dead.  _ It must have died last night under all that heat. _ Qrow thought to himself.  _ I should really let Tai and the girls know that I’m okay. _ He exited the bathroom and walked over into the kitchen where it seemed like Elm was relentlessly teasing Clover. 

“Hey, do any of you have a charger?” Qrow asked. 

“What kind do you use?” Vine asked. Qrow showed them his charger port and was met with faces of pity. 

“You guys don’t have the same charger, do you?”

Elm shook her head. “Sorry birdy.”

“Cloves, can I borrow your phone real quick?” He asked. Clover had no objections as he unlocked his phone and handed it to Qrow. “Thank you.” He walked back into the living room as he dialed in a set of numbers. Qrow prided himself in being able to remember the small details in things he reports. The way he would remember what was in one of his photos versus what the camera had captured. His attention to detail was always something he took great pride in. 

Although, that kind of attention was a trade off for basic details. The prime example at the moment being that he never actually memorized Tai’s and the girls new numbers. He remembered the house number though. He just prayed that they actually went through the answering machine at some point since they all tended to forget about it. The phone began to ring through and it dragged on before Qrow ended up getting the voicemail. 

_ “I’m Ruby! And I’m Yang! And you’ve reached the Rose-Xiao Long house!”  _ The recorded message rang through. _ “We aren’t home right now! So leave a message!”  _ Qrow rolled his eyes as he could only imagine their goofy grins. 

_ “At the tone, please leave a message.” _ The machine instructed as the tone followed right after. 

“Hey, girls, it’s Uncle Qrow. Listen, I’m over at Vine’s right now so don’t panic. I stayed over watching horror movies with our new friends from Atlas. My phone died during the night, so I’m using Clover’s right now. I’m okay, please do not send a battalion of police officers after me. I’ll see you all when I get home, alright? Love you both. And Tai please don’t murder me.” Qrow ended the call as he felt some anxiety leave him. He hoped that they would listen to the voicemail and know that he was okay. 

“You okay?” Clover’s voice came from behind him. Qrow nodded as he turned to hand the phone back to him. “You sure?” 

“Yeah. Just didn’t want the girls worrying.” He said. 

“We can head to Patch after breakfast and stop by the house if that makes you feel any better.” Clover suggested. 

“You wanna come with me all the way to the house just for my nieces to confirm I’m alive?” 

Clover nodded. “Well yeah. Plus, if they’re mad, I can serve as a good alibi.” Qrow hummed in agreement. “Plus, I want to see the apple orchard.” 

“I knew there was something in it for you.” 

* * *

After breakfast was had, and both Marrow and Harriet had returned from their run. A quick detour to Clover’s apartment for a quick shower for Clover and they were off to Patch so that Qrow could do the same in the house. It was closer to noon by the time they had arrived on the island. As they drove down the streets to get to the house, Qrow hadn’t seen any sign of Taiyang or his nieces. It gave him some hope that they were at the house and were at least awaiting his arrival. 

As they drove up to the house, Qrow noticed that the truck was gone. And there wasn’t any sign of the girls or any of the kids being around. Normally, that wouldn’t have been alarming, except he hadn’t heard back from anyone else in the house. Which wasn’t a good thing.

_ Crap. _

Qrow pulled out his keys to the house as he unlocked the door. “Tai?! Girls?!” He called out into the house. No response. “I guess all three of them are gone.” He muttered. 

“There is an apple bobbing contest at the orchard.” Clover reminded him. “Maybe they went there to get a headstart?” 

“Maybe?” Qrow had doubts. “I’m gonna shower real quick. Hold down the fort for me down here til I get back?” 

“Yessir!” Clover saluted as Qrow rolled his eyes. 

“Dork.” 

“You still like me though.” 

“Yeah I do.” Qrow answered honestly as he strided up the stairs for the shower. 

The warm water felt amazing on his skin. The tense muscles relaxed under the running water. Despite being wide awake, the warmth of the water could almost soothe him back to sleep. And he wanted so badly to just lie down and take a nap. It was too bad he couldn’t just stay underneath it and think about life.

He exited the shower before his body gave into the temptation of staying. When Qrow reentered his bedroom, he realised that he had forgotten to put his phone on the actual charger. He muttered a few swears at himself for his idiotic decision. He plugged the phone in and he knew it would be a while before the phone would be usable. He quickly got dressed before he made his way downstairs. 

Clover had migrated into the front room. The other man currently stood in front of one of the bookshelves by the windows. He had a book in his hand and seemed to be studying it intently. Qrow couldn’t quite see what book he had in his hand and stepped closer to the other man to get a glimpse at what had attracted his attention. 

“I see that you found Summer.” Qrow said. Clover jumped slightly at his words, clearly startled from his presence. “This was her favorite scrapbook.” He pointed out. “All of her favorite photos are in this book. From when she was a baby down to the day before she disappeared.”

“Have you gone through the whole thing?”

Qrow thought about it for a moment. “It’s been a long time since I picked that thing up.” Clover looked at him for a moment, as if he understood the reason behind it. Qrow supposed that Clover had lost someone close to him at some point in his life. 

“I liked the photo of you and Yang.” Clover said as he put the book back in it’s rightful place. 

Qrow snorted. “Which one? Yang and I are about a fourth of those photos.” 

“You were holding her, while she was wrapped in a hospital blanket. I’d guess probably the day she was born.” Clover told him. Qrow remembered that day well. The panic that started earlier in the day led to the worry throughout the day and finally the relief at seeing his baby niece in perfect condition. 

He’d never forget that. 

“The day I became Uncle Qrow.” He said softly. 

“I meant to ask about that.” Clover spoke, temporarily interrupting Qrow’s mind trip into nostalgia. “Where is Yang’s mom? I haven’t seen her around. Have I just not run into her yet or?” 

Qrow took a deep breath before he answered. “She’s in Anima. A little while after Yang was born, she decided that being a parent and married wasn’t all that worth it I guess. She packed her bags and left all of us behind. She hasn’t really seen Yang since she left, and the two of us aren’t on the best of terms.” Qrow told him. 

“I suppose everyone is entitled to live their life. Although, I don’t think it should come at the cost of someone else’s.” Clover muttered darkly. 

_ Ah, so he does know that pain. _

“Guess so.” He shrugged. “The twin thing never really applied to us.”

“Wait, you two are twins?” Clover looked surprised. Qrow picked off a photo from the wall. It was a picture of Summer, Taiyang, Raven, and himself around Halloween during their years in college. He pointed to Raven. “That’s her.” Clover studied her for a brief moment. “Now do you see the resemblance?”

“She seems like a bully.” Clover stated. 

Qrow howled with laughter.

“Well... you’re not wrong.” He said in between laughs. Clover also laughed, although Qrow suspected that he was laughing because of Qrow, but that's besides the point. “So, the orchard?” He suggested after he calmed down. 

Clover’s eyes lit up. “Yes!” 

“Let’s go.” 

* * *

A vast majority of the people on the island were there by the time Clover and Qrow had arrived. There were apple bobbing contests, tree climbing contests, races for the kids, and of course apple picking. Ordinarily, Qrow would have skipped this event in favor of sleeping on the bed, but the girls dragged him out to it every year. He had suspicion that it was Taiyang’s fault, but there wasn't anything he could do to say no.

“They have a scavenger hunt for green apples?” Clover asked as he held up the brochure to Qrow.

“Yeah, those apples are pretty rare in Patch. So, if you find one you get some sort of prize. Probably like a new TV or something.” 

“Where do I sign up?” Clover asked as Qrow chuckled. 

He pointed. “The table over there.” The brunette immediately rushed over to sign up for the scavenger hunt. He started to follow, his walking pace no match the fast pace of Clover. 

“Qrow Branwen!” A voice yelled out. A voice he recognized. 

_ Oh, gods. _

He sheepishly turned around. There, charging at him was Taiyang. Most people would move out of the way from an angry Taiyang like most people would avoid semi-truck on the highway. And yet somehow, Qrow is the only one dumb enough to stay planted where he is instead of running away like everyone else. 

“Hey...Tai.” He greeted weakly. 

The blond man huffed. “Where, for the love of gods, have you been?”

Qrow took a deep breath, before slowly exhaling. “Okay, so...”

“Where, Qrow?”

“I’m tryna to tell you. So, I get this phone call from Marrow...”

“Where, Qrow?!” 

“I was with Vine.” Qrow shortened. Once Taiyang was on a warpath, there was no use in beating around the bush. 

Taiyang crossed his arms and looked at Qrow with disbelief. “The guy that you’ve barely talked to? You went to his apartment? And you expect me to believe that?”

_ Ouch, okay. I deserve that. _

“It was a movie night.”

“With just you and Vine?”

“W-well no. There was-”

“Hey Qrow! Check it out!” Clover called out as he jogged up to the other man. “They have apple charms! Maybe we can add them to our bracelets!” Qrow smiled at the other man. He reminded him of Ruby a bit, when he got excited about things. “Anyways, I signed us up for-Oh! Taiyang! Sorry, I almost didn’t see you there.” Clover greeted. How Clover didn’t see Taiyang was a wonder. The blond was clearly angry with Qrow, his rage could be felt like the sun. _Lucky Charm, how do you not see the dragon?_ “Glad we ran into you. Qrow was worried about you guys the whole time.”

“I was not!” 

“Qrow, you left them a voicemail and a note on the kitchen table. Plus you wanted to look for them while we were here.” Clover listed off. “You were pretty worried.” 

“So, wait. You two were together?” Tai asked. “For the whole night?” 

Clover nodded. “Yeah, I guess Marrow invited him over for a movie night at Vine’s apartment. Qrow suggested some movies so we watched them and we all passed out in the living room. It was pretty enjoyable.” 

“Oh, so you guys didn’t go out anywhere?” Tai asked.

Clover shook his head. “It was a quiet night in....well mostly. Marrow did cry a bit.” Qrow snorted as Tai chuckled. “Nothing to worry about!” Clover reassured them both. 

“Yeah. I guess I really didn’t have anything to worry about.” Taiyang’s voice filled with relief. “Good to know that dusty old Qrow can take care of himself for once.”

“Wow, rude. I have been capable of taking care of myself for years, thank you very much.” 

“Qrow, you burned water in the house.” Taiyang reminded him.

“That was one time!” Qrow countered as he lightly punched the other man’s shoulder. The two men laughed for a moment before they calmed down. Taiyang’s blue eyes filled with relief at the earlier reassurance from Clover. 

“So, about this Green Apple Hunt...” Clover started, which drew the attention of the two former in-laws. “...are we allowed to shove people out of trees?”

Qrow stared blankly at the man. “Clover, no.”

Taiyang wheezed with laughter. “Qrow, you’ve been a terrible influence on him.”

Clover saluted them both. “It’s the brat in me.” He winked at Qrow before he started to follow his list of hints to find the green apple.


End file.
